French Foreign Minister hails strategic ties with India

French Foreign Minister, Catherine Colonna said India and France have strong strategic partnership for the last 25 years and want to bring peace and stability to the world.

"It is my first visit as a minister to India but not my first visit to India. But I wanted to choose India as my first visit as a minister in the Asian zone. So, that's a deliberate choice. The reason is that France and India have had a strong partnership with its strategic partnership for the past 25 years almost. We've achieved a lot. We want to bring some peace and stability to this world," Colonna said.

French Foreign Minister elaborated that India and France work together not only on defence, and security but also on global issues and would like to do more.

She also revealed that a meeting between President Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister Modi can take place soon and said, "We have a lot of ambition. My President and Prime Minister Modi met last May and then will meet soon, I'm sure we're building on an existing very good relationship already."

France's Foreign Minister is on a three-day visit from September 13, during which she will meet PM Modi, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and NSA Ajit Doval and discuss bilateral, regional and international issues of mutual interest.

(ANI)